Cole, Judge & Peraza Lead ‘Clean’ Win. NY 3 Detroit 0

August 17, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Aaron Judge hits his 44th Homer of year for a 3-0 lead in 8th.

Gerrit Cole was dominant with 6 shutout innings, Oswald Peraza and Aaron Judge hit homers, and the bullpen was terrific as the Yanks came away with a relatively ‘clean’ 3-0 win over the Tigers in Detroit on a Friday night.

The only ‘unclean’ part of the game was when Gleyber Torres made a good stop on a hard hit grounder for the final out of the 7th but threw the ball away so it went for a single, and on the next play Anthony Volpe dropped a popup at 3rd that should have been the final out. But Luke Weaver picked up his infielders by inducing another popup — this one to Gleyber that was caught.

Weaver, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes were all sharp in pitching 3 shutout innings.

“It’s a blessing to expect them to come in and be really, really nails every single time and tonite was definitely that,” said Cole about the bullpen. “Weaver even picked up the defense a little bit too.”

“It’s a blessing to be a pitcher on the Yankees, I tell you that,” added Cole, when asked about Jose Trevino being back as his catcher. “(Carlos) Narvaez came up and did an excellent job when Trevi was down; (Austin) Wells has been anchoring the position for us for the last few months; and obviously Trevi is a platinum glove winner. We’re kind of spoiled over here you know what I mean?”

“It’s nice to get a clean win,” summed up manager Aaron Boone afterwards.

NY improves to 73-50, in 1st place by a game over Baltimore (which lost to Boston), and now with the best record in MLB. Detroit falls to

1. Cole Tremendous

Gerrit Cole was tremendous — using his easy-motion delivery with his knuckle-curve fooling hitters and his seemingly effortless 96-MPH fastball blowing past guys. Hitters looked like they didn’t know what was coming all evening as Cole struck out 8 in 6 innings of 4-hit, shutout ball, walking 2.

Cole:

  1. Pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st,
  2. Scattered a hit and a single in the 2nd,
  3. Worked around a 1-out single in the 3rd,
  4. Allowed a walk to Jace Jung in the 4th who was pegged out by Trevino trying to steal 2nd,
  5. Pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th, and then
  6. Allowed consecutive 1-out singles in the 6th, but got the next 2 batters.

Cole was changing eye levels with his low knuckle-curve and his high fastball.

“It speeds the hitter up and allows us to use breaking balls in the strike zone as well, and creates speed differential,” said Cole afterwards when asked by Meredith Marakovits about changing eye levels. “I felt pretty good today; had a nice cruising speed; walked too many guys but the command was there for the most part, made big pitches in situations with runners in scoring position, and executed pitches throughout the evening. Trevi seemed like he didn’t miss a beat — he was reading swings well and picked some really good pitches.”

“I was able to dial it back, push it up, and locate,” added Cole when asked about how he felt. “Both those ends of the spectrum, so it’s a good sign.”

Cole goes to 4-2 4.15.

2. Yanks Jump on Top in 1st Again

Detroit started Beau Brieske, a 26-yr-old, 6’3 righthander in his 3rd season for Detroit.

Gleyber Torres led off with a single and went to 2nd on an error by centerfielder Parker Meadows. Juan Soto walked, and after Aaron Judge lined out, Giancarlo Stanton walked to load the bases.

Alex Verdugo hit a sac fly to centerfield and it was 1-0 Yanks.

3. Trevi Does Well with Wells Sitting

Jose Trevino was back from a 2-month stay on the Injured List and caught for Cole as he normally does. Stanton was the DH over Austin Wells with Jose Trevino back — despite Wells being Red Hot with 3 hits and a HR the prior game. This caused a lot of stir on Yankee Twitter.

But Trevino did well — walking in the 2nd and stealing 2nd base (where he was stranded by Brieske), and doubling to lead off the 7th (where was again stranded).

Trevino also called a good game and threw out Jace Jung in the 4th to erase a 1-out walk by Cole (see above).

4. Peraza HR Makes It 2-0

Oswald Peraza, just up from AAA to replace the injured Jazz Chisholm Jr.— played 3rd base and ripped a homer to left in the 5th to make it 2-0 NY. Peraza adjusted his swing in AAA a month ago and has been red hot since.

5. Weaver Picks Up His Infielders in 7th

Luke Weaver pitched the 7th in a 2-0 game and was sharp, but was sabatoged by his infielders.

Weaver got a strike out and fly out to start the inning — then got a hard-hit grounder by Trey Sweeney to 2nd that Gleyber Torres made the stop on but then threw wild to 1st base as Sweeney reached. It was ruled a single to the chagrin of Suzyn Waldman and Justin Shackil on the broadcast. Gleyber made a good stop, but blew the throw — although it was hit hard, and it was Sweeney’s first major league hit.

With 2 outs and a runner on, Weaver picked up Gleyber by inducing catcher Jake Rogers to hit an easy pop up to 3rd base. Anthony Volpe ranged over and waved off Peraza — then dropped the ball.

With runners now on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, Weaver had to pick up both Volpe and Gleyber. He did by inducing another pop up — this time by Parker Meadows to Gleyber at 2nd who caught it for the 3rd out. PHEW.

6. Judge HR Adds Insurance in 8th

Up precariously 2-0 in the top of the 8th, Yankee fans like Madison Miller were asking for an insurance run — and Aaron Judge provided one with with his 44th homer of the year — a 431-foot Blast to center.

7. Kahnle Sharp

Tommy Kahnle came in for the bottom of the 8th — NY up 3-0. Kahnle was Sharp — pop up, ground out, ground out for a 1-2-3 inning on 12 pitches (4 to each batter).

8. Holmes Sharp

Clay Holmes came in for the save in the bottom of the 9th with NY up 3-0 — and Holmes was also sharp: strike out, strike out, line out for a 1-2-3 inning and the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570304

 

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